Nearly two weeks after it started, the fire continues here on my front doorstep. The nightly settling in of the smoke into the valleys gives way to thick, overbearing mornings of enforced quietude as venturing outdoors is a danger to health. Afternoons bring winds that spread the blaze across the face of the mountain here. Firefighters have drawn a boundary zone and have moved on to defend that line, leaving the internal fire to simply consume the forests. It is, indeed, a living entity, this fire, bringing with it the destruction that Pluto exerts upon us all and will continue to do through it’s squares with Uranus that will, finally, end in 2015.

Enduring the phase of de-construction and discovering a “new normal” that will last for a long time after this epoch has passed is our first order during the initial phases of these squares. Those able to engage at the meta-level are most likely to meet these coming years with a sense of balance, fortitude and understanding that this experience is necessary for renewal. The living through it is the test of character, much like this fire has become an annoying neighbor whose presence one must put up with until the neighbor decides to move away. No choice about it at all, except in how one will meet and work with it over time.

I have received many e-mails from others’ commenting on their relationship to the news of this fire. Those that do embrace metaphor and metaphysics have recognized that this burning brings up old wounds in need of new recognition and, ultimately, a chance to finally perish – like writing down archaic thoughts and feelings on small bits of paper and, after reading them out loud and acknowledging their deep impact on us, we throw them into the campfire under a clear, night sky. Those wounds do hurt and it is that pain we must learn to sit with with compassion and patience. Sometimes, those places in us seem endless, much like this fire begins to feel as though it will last forever and I must now organize my own life and continue on with meaning despite it’s presence.

Chiron and Neptune in Pisces at this time are the planets to which we can look for inspiration in taking on the healing of those old wounds. Chiron represents that journey at the individual level, recognizing ourselves and our personal narratives as critically important within a larger context. That larger context is represented by Neptune, one of our gas giants, whose position as an outer planet signals the very large spiritual and emotional changes that need to take place upon our own. We all belong to that whole, yet we will only come to terms with this epochal transformation by reaching out to our own selves, valuing the stories our very bodies hold at even the cellular level, and allowing the wounds of our culture to come to the surface.

Those waters are deep, indeed. Kindness and courage are our best allies as we reach our hands into that reflecting pond, searching the muddy bottom for the detritus we need to hold up in the sunlight in our open palm. It is good to remember, when feeling through that muck, that that is where water lilies’ roots are to be found. Despite its ephemeral, moving and de-stabilizing qualities, there are anchors to be found down there, in the depths of that cool water.

Here is a beautiful example of how the macrocosmic celestial relationships, whose symbolic meanings often feel so ungraspable, translate into our daily lives at the microcosmic level. This is what the delivery of the Thunderbolt (Uranus) of Destruction (Pluto) in square actually looks and feels like right here on terra firma. As many of you know, I do live in the Jemez Mountains and this fire did start just a mile from my home. Fortunately for me and my small neighborhood, it began east of us, with winds blowing east. However, it’s presence has been huge and overwhelming and, though I am safe here to the West of it, I know so many flora dying and ache for the fauna (including humans) that are threatened and struggling in its path. What I am including here is a series of “reports” I wrote to friends in Santa Fe and some of their responses which, as a whole, I believe can illuminate the deep feelings held by so many on this planet as we traverse the series of Squares between these two planets through 2015. They are, indeed, “sparking” destructive changes, the opening of old and buried wounds, and the transformation of them into something larger than our personal circumstances. It’s about personally and universally connecting to events that effect us all, though in our individual ways. In addition to these written exchanges, I have had many calls from clients, as well as conversations with village friends, regarding the welling up of sorrows and fears, intensive periods of overwhelming fatigue to an almost narcoleptic degree, as well as sudden personal crises whose end appears in doubt. This is exactly what this epoch is all about and, as these exchanges reveal, the deep and abiding drive to heal.

If you are willing to make your way through them, it is my hope that the progression in the “calls and responses” between myself and friends will elucidate the natural progression from the first “numb and dumb” recognition of a new reality and it’s often concomitant attention to “facts” (a good way to find control in uncontrollable circumstances) toward a more full and contemplative reflection on the symbolism of events, which is what astrology, life, transition and death are all about. It is also the core of what will be required of us through the Uranus/Pluto squares and klieg lights of sudden changes through the next few years. They will bring the destruction and, which will then open the way for the “something new.” But we have to extend our horizons and think long-term, just as the twists and turns of this fire have required those of us in its immediate vicinity to do. This requires endurance and courage and the simple ability to sometimes just sit with ourselves and cry. It, like aging, is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Before you continue, please do pardon the rather interesting formatting throughout. These exerpts are directly taken out of e-mails and, given all the various fonts and compatibilities of the digital world, I have not been able to format it all here in any uniform manner. Perhaps another metaphor for our confusing and disconnected world at the moment. Though that is a vestige of a past structure now falling down.

I can think of no other more appropriate transition from the Piscean age, which began approximately 2000 years ago when christianity established itself as a spiritual authority (the phrase itself is an oxymoron as there is no authority within spirituality, only within artificial religions) and the Aquarian age, which faces us now and begs us to accept and traverse unknown territory.

The current Pope’s resignation is symbolic of the millenia-old patriarchal and hierarchical culture of control, violence, deceit, perversions and total cowardice, established during the beginning of the Piscean age, that must crumble and fall if we are to enter into the Age of Aquarius with any awareness and wakefulness at all.

The current demise of that outdated culture/structure (Pluto in Capricorn now), founded 2000 years ago, during which the authority of Western males was firmly established to the detriment of female wisdom, personal authenticity, peaceful relationships with others and the desire to acknowledge individual talents in service to the greater whole, is one to be celebrated.

These red cocks wearing their girlish costumes (which once belonged to the province of temple priestesses – now aped in bizarre frocks worn by men and demeaned by them), must be cast aside if we are to enter into the Aquarian concepts of community, right relationships and the attainment of higher Mind.

Aquarians are all about creativity of the Mind and individual expression of personal, spiritual meaning, and we must all yield to their heralding changes. In the same light, we must acknowledge those of Piscean heritage who will usher out the last two millenia of travesty that began with our age. Sorrow and the transmission of learned lessons are what those born in Pisces (and/or those with charts heavy in Pisces/Calypso/Chiron) have to hold during this transition. WE do know the wounds inflicted over this past era and we can, indeed, communicate the errors of those ways.

The skirted, poof-ball perverts of the Catholic Church, which established extraordinarily ridiculous theories and behaviors at the beginning of the Piscean age, have led us all astray during these two millennia of their rule in left-brain, boy thought, orthodox behavior for far too long. When I use the word “poof ball,” I am not referring to someone’s sexual orientation (though these guys have some serious hangups in general around sexuality); I am referring to a person’s utter lack of courage, honesty and integrity. The word is actually the informal name of a member of the edible fungi family – a mushroom. They are usually round and are distinguished by their ephemeral, fragile structure. If one squeezes a poof ball, millions of spores “poof” from its insides, after which it collapses. So, originally, referring to someone as a poof ball did mean that they were a lot of air with very little substance.

Let’s all watch the pope run and hide just as the Church’s dirty laundry is washing in on the tide. I see there is a reason to thank Pluto for her revelations of secrets and lies at this time, as well as her influences in the collapse of useless structures.

What shall happen as Calypso, the true ruler/goddess of the seas and oceanic spirituality of the people (mis-named by males as Neptune) moves through Pisces over the next 10 years, will be the drowning of those patriarchal robes, ermine capes and false red slippers in the waters of transformation. Dorothy, where are you and will you please, for all of us, click your ruby sequined slippers? We are being asked to realize that there is, indeed, no place like home and I hope we can all begin to awaken and recognize the true members of our small communities once again. And, it is going to take diligence and work on the part of us all.

If any of those red-capped boys were at all functioning out of honesty or integrity, they would immediately suspend the upcoming joke of “choosing a new Pope,” throw up their hands and say, “We failed. Most miserably, in a quest for spirituality.” Each and every one of them would resign if they had any conscience.

Alas, no, they will, even in the face of all facts as to their pedophilic, bank fraudulent and corrupt behaviors, try to pump themselves up like adolescent boys on viagra. We should all laugh and walk away from their theatrical gesticulations at this point. The emperors/popes are all, indeed, rendered naked. Better for all of us to simply turn away as they embarrass themselves once again before humanity. It is the polite thing to do, though politeness is far more than any of them deserve. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so, I AM spending a great deal more time over THERE on my Taoist blogsite. You know, the Tao just comes in flow, just as astrology does. I have decided to simply “let go” of what and where I should be doing anything and invite my readers to experience the rhythmic, non-linearly-delineated wisdoms of, well, kinesthetic wisdom. I have so many interests and, in my younger days, felt guilty when I was doing one thing as opposed to another. I felt that I was neglecting something I should be doing while attending to something else. Now that I have entered a different phase and different perspective of life, I realize how the movement between each subject and activity only enlivens and enriches the others. No, it’s not conventional and may, at times, seem crazy or inattentive, but, just like the wonderful man in the photo here, over time, it all makes sense.

A wonderful man I once knew, my acupuncturist, who was actually my star twin (born within two weeks of each other) told me that, being a Taoist, one becomes the interstitial fluid that flows through and into each and every cell of the body. We flow. Others choose to be the stationary cell, but we choose to move between millions of those cells. Neither one can be what it is without the other. Flow depends on the stationary and the stationary depends on the flow. It all comes down to discerning choice. Emphasis on Discerning and Choice. Know what it is you are choosing to do and all becomes right.

So, I hope you stay with me in the flow of life and the tao and astrology and all other subjects that bear upon our lives at the moment. As that famous quote states: “Every tangent turns into a circle, if you just have the patience to wait long enough.” I am over there right now. With my crazy, drunk masters of light. Hope you can make the journey.

Okay, well, still moving back and forth between my websites. And, it seems, they are integrated in some way I do not yet fully understand. However, I do know both are informing each other at sometimes unconscious levels. In discussing Venus and the particular plight of women in our current world view – seriously limited as it is, I have, indeed, written an article over THERE at taowisdom.wordpress.com, that does, indeed, relate to what is going on over here. We do need to build the voice of Venus and the Feminine, so destroyed over millennia. And that takes time and a willingness to address it through different avenues.

In the meantime, as I still stumble toward Venus and self-identity, I hope the essay I have written of THERE helps in that process.

I seem to be stumbling across a number of articles these days that express, far more beautifully than I can, my own philosophical orientation to life and the need to return to a very vital, sacred part of human nature which has been lost to the commodifying, consumerist culture that has, over time, impoverished our spiritual selves.

I stumbled across this post today and feel it is very valuable in connecting the body/mind/spirit with celestial activity. In addition, just after our recent CME flares, I had been experiencing a number of the exact symptoms described in the article. They were, in fact, making me feel extremely ill. It was quite relieving and helpful to read this author’s article and to be able to view those symptoms in a much broader perspective – and certainly a more positive one than they had been making me feel.

And, yes, still working on the next installment of Venus Crossing the Sun.

In order to begin to discuss the significance of Venus eclipsing the Sun way back in June and to tease out the meaning of it at this juncture in history, it is necessary to step back and view the bigger picture inside of the narrow one from which our cultural definitions of her have emerged and been defined over the past 7,000 years – under hierarchical and patriarchal rules of relationship. We are, indeed, at a critical time in re-defining relationship on this planet and, in order to do so, we do need to stage a break-out of the feminine from the prison within which she has been required to function over millennia. We have to, first, acknowledge this sorry state of affairs. Women, in fact, have no idea who we are . . . yet.

What we should all be celebrating is this: The idea that SHE’S BAAAACK! This occasion truly is a once in a several generation event and we do, indeed, need to sit up and take notice. That notice is sent to all females (and males) who want to graduate from juvenile ways of relating and ascend to being a woman relating to men, in their own rights. My last post is all about that.

Here is the essence of Venus crossing the sun and rising: a woman (not a girl) owning herself. More to come. But, you know, this is why, in my taowisdom.wordpress.com blog, I will shortly be discussing why males have no business teaching females about their sexuality: tantric, kundalini or otherwise.

You know why?

Because she already knows what she is doing. Always has. Our work, if we want to become men and women, instead of just boys and girls playing boy games for vacuous entertainment, is to recognize her for who she is in her own right.

Notice how all the men (and they are men) musicians simply support her while she expresses herself? That is how it is supposed to be.

She isn’t on that stage “performing.” She is on that stage revealing herself as she is, for who she is.

She is not there for your pornographic fantasies, boys, nor as a warm-up for your phallic pleasures. Not at all. She stands complete unto herself and will not be denied. Those supporting male musicians know that. And, look, they are celebrating it. So, let’s all start to bend our minds and imaginations into THAT reality. Because that reality is the only one that is going to save any of us at this point.

This video is the absolutely, perfect metaphor for our times: Venus eclipsing the Sun. A long time coming and a much needed alteration in our course of being.

So, sit back and listen, all you boys and girls, and try to learn something new for once. Grow up.

Yes, it has been a while since I have posted. This is not due to neglect but, rather, because I have been re-directing my attention to other avenues of thought and creativity.

Most of you are aware that I have incorporated, over time, the philosophy of the Tao into my astrological writings and readings.

After much contemplation and a feeling of being torn between two places of thought and interest, though both dovetail seamlessly into my consultations, I find that I have needed to devote a greater amount of my time right now to developing another of my websites, which is dedicated solely and entirely to my writings and classes about the ancient Tao.

I have, indeed, been developing that website and initiating my classes devoted solely to that pursuit. Such contemplations and writings have been stimulated by my renewed commitment to teaching and interpreting the ancient (versus traditional or conventional) Tao. It has been a long time in coming as I have been engaged in the philosophy and practice of the Tao for many years. Reflections upon it never cease to delight me, as well as encourage new ways of thinking and being in the world.

I will continue to write here of astrological interests and find that my need to write of the ancient Tao does, indeed, completely resonate with our most recent collective experience of Venus crossing the Sun – a once in a 105 (or so) year occurrence.

We should, indeed, all sit up and take notice, as many of our own progeny will never experience it and all of us who witnessed it are fortunate to have done so. My own mother never did during her lifetime. In that light, I have initiated my separate website on the ancient Tao, which, I hope, may begin to elucidate and transmit the feminine Tao, so long lost amidst, betwixt and between our patriarchally- and hierarchically-oriented culture.

Venus crossing the Sun means that the Divine Feminine, if allowed to do so in this place and time, can lead us into new paradigms of equality with one another. Such equality means we must divest ourselves of old paradigms of male/female relationships and to forge new ways of being with each other. The death of the old social/cultural paradigms of boy/girl dating/relating are over. Here, we have the opportunity to start to meet each other as adult men and women within a more holistic understanding of the world and our place within it. That will take listening to our guts (solar plexus) and acting with guts. Risk-taking is the order of the day and, after many years of contemplation, I realized my own need to do so. Such are the writings of my new website, which will, ultimately, inform and direct my writings here. They always have. It is just that, at this juncture in our (and my own) history, I choose to address such issues more directly than I feel I have been able with the focus here of astrology as its main concern.

I will indeed, write of that rare occurrence of Venus and her crossing of our Sun shortly. But, for now, I do invite you to visit my new website: taowisdom.wordpress.com to find out more about what I am doing these days, as well as to read of new days ahead for all of us.

Thank you all for your continued support and reading of this site. I have not forgotten all of you. I have, in fact, been forging a new way for myself and all of us to think about ourselves in a larger context and, whether here or there, I will address those issues.